christopher price

Why the Patriots won't run as much no-huddle as usual this Sunday against Seattle

FOXBORO -- As was the case in 2011, the signature element of this year’s Patriots’ offense is the quick pace.

New England had run no-huddle 28 percent of the time over the first four games of the season, and the offense was at it again on Sunday against the Broncos, when it went no-huddle on a season-high 49 percent (44 of 89) of snaps from scrimmage, pushing the tempo and doing their best to keep the Denver defense on its heels. At one point, the Broncos were flagged for having 12 men on the field as players were flying on and off the field trying to find the right formation.

“We were moving pretty quick,” quarterback Tom Brady said. “I think we were trying to just keep the pressure on them, and to try to get them to line up and make their call. I thought we did a good job of that. Once again, it’s trying to keep them off-balance, trying to keep our tempo really high so that it forces them to get lined up as quickly as they can in the right spots. We got a '12 men on the field' at one point, there were some creases in the run game because of snapping the ball pretty quickly. It was good. It was a good day.”

The Patriots leaned on it heavily in the first half, when they went no-huddle on 33 of their 45 plays, including 22 in the second quarter when New England put 10 points on the board. Those first-half sequences were some of the fastest football the Patriots have played in the last several seasons.

“Shoot, to tell you the truth, to me, it all feels fast. I know we’re going fast and flying around there and doing what we need to do to get the ball down the field,” wide receiver Wes Welker said Monday. “[But] it can become an advantage, especially if they have a good rush or something, trying to get some of those guys tired.”

However, when the Patriots take their road show to Seattle this Sunday for a date with the Seahawks, they might not be so inclined to go hurry-up. One reason why it seems unlikely that they’ll utilize the no-huddle this weekend against the Seahawks in Seattle is that they use it less on the road than at home. Since the start of the 2011 season, the Patriots’ have pronounced home/road splits when it comes to using the no-huddle: at home, they’ve used it on 32 percent of the snaps, while on the road, that number drops to 22 percent.

Brady said that when you get away from Gillette Stadium, it’s tougher to execute.

“The communication is different on the road,” Brady said. “There’s a little bit more of a challenge, especially in a place like Seattle, where -- I’ve never played there, but I’ve heard it’s pretty loud.

“But we’ve played in plenty of loud environments. We played in Baltimore and ran a lot of no-huddle. We played in Buffalo last week and ran a lot of no-huddle. It’s not something that we can’t do. We just try to figure out what we think is going to work the best, and that’s what we try to do. We’re never really locked in to one particular mode. It’s just more of a matter of how we feel we need to attack them.”

Home or away, Belichick said Monday that deciding when to use the no-huddle comes down to situational football.

“Depending on our team and the circumstances of the game and then the opponent and what they do and so forth, that’s something we always discuss,” Belichick said. “Obviously we have [no-huddle]. Sometimes we use it more than others -- it’s really a function of whether we feel it gives us an advantage relative to doing it in another way, which method we want to be in, just like what plays we want to call.

“There’s a conversation about what plays are run and there’s also a conversation about how to run them -- to run them in a no-huddle manner or to not to do that. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, so you just have to decide.”

In that context, it’s important to note that Seattle is one of the loudest places in the league to play, and in the two games the Seahawks have hosted this season, opponents have gone no-huddle a combined eight times in 125 plays from scrimmage. (The Cowboys and Packers went no-huddle on four occasions each.) While it could be partly because none of the five teams Seattle has played to this point in the season haven’t been no-huddle teams -- the Seahawks’ defense has faced a no-huddle attack on just nine snaps all season long -- it can’t help matters.

That's not to say the Patriots are going to run a slowdown offense. Just don't expect as high-flying a game as we saw Sunday against the Broncos.

“It’s definitely a tough place to play -- you can see it on film. These guys fly around really well [and] get a good rush,” Welker said. “They have really big corners; a really big secondary. Really good players back there. They do a great job all the way around. Defensively, they’re pretty tough. The crowd really gets into it. It’ll be a tough atmosphere.”

Greg and Chris talk with Mike Reiss from ESPN Boston in hour 2 of NFL Sunday to discuss a variety of offseason happenings with the Pats and throughout the league. Greg and Chris also get into the NFL Draft and where Mariota and Winston will go.

Mike Reiss calls the guys to talk about the offseason news for the Pats. He talks about the Pats/Jets tampoering fiasco, free agency, where he sees Ridley and Connolly ending up, if the Patriots would be interested in Reggie Wayne and more.

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Mut, Tomase, and Bradford kick things off talking about Shane Victorino taking offense to people reading into some comments he made about trading for Cole Hamels. They also discuss Blake Swihart and how soon he could be up if Christian Vazquez starts the season on the DL.

Joe Kelly joined the Hot Stove show where he talked about being ready for his next spring training start after a biceps ailment forced him out of his last outing, he talks about his NCAA brackets and how teammate Wade Miley has a perfect bracket still.

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It's a big hour #2 for the Sunday Skate dudes - they talk about the B's defenseman and what the future looks like at that position, with both moves the team can make and younger guys in the AHL. They also get into the Bruins philosophy on bringing guys up and sending them back down and how players deal with that. Finally, the boys are joined by Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli to discuss EVERYTHING.

The Sunday Skate crew gets the show going discussing the Bruins big, impressive victory over the NY Rangers yesterday. What can you take from that game? According to LB - Lyndon Byers - who called the guys from the road, not a lot. LB drops a dime on what was going on with the Rangers yesterday. DJ and Joe discuss Claude's lines and groupings and the importance of Ryan Spooner. They also get into Lucic, his contributions this year and if he can turn things around.

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